


cut it close

by tkreyesevandiaz



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Attempt at Humor, Caring Evan "Buck" Buckley, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Eddie Diaz, Facial Shaving, Fluff, Forehead Kisses, M/M, POV Eddie Diaz, Pre-Relationship, Shaving, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepy Eddie Diaz, Slice of Life, Soft Eddie Diaz, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25698340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tkreyesevandiaz/pseuds/tkreyesevandiaz
Summary: Eddie wants to shave, but he's far too exhausted. Luckily, Buck has a solution for him.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 43
Kudos: 301





	cut it close

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elisela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisela/gifts).



> Eli made me do it.
> 
> I haven't written something this fast in weeks, and I don't usually post twice on the same day so WHOOP. 
> 
> Thank you the lovely @SevenSoulmates for reading over this and giving me a title because let's face it, titles are the _worst_

Eddie was annoyed.

It was weird, because Eddie lived the majority of his life with some semblance of facial hair. It made him feel less naked, exposed less of his face even if it was just a five o’clock shadow. When he could, he usually had something up there, plus the added benefit of less time needed to get ready.

But his face was scratchy, and now he was annoyed.

In the Army, there was no room for anything but keeping himself clean-shaven. Regulation said that facial hair wasn’t allowed, unless it was a mustache, and no matter what anyone said, Eddie could _not_ pull one off. He’d look like a counterfeit cowboy playing dress-up with one of those 50-cent stick-on mustaches, and he hadn't even wanted to _think_ about the Texas jokes he'd get from the other soldiers.

That wasn’t to say that he'd been religious in keeping himself clean-shaven when he was at home. When Christopher was born, he was on a ten-day paternity leave; between Shannon’s long labour and just the feeling of being home, there was no way he was about to keep running razors across his face.

The first touch of his son’s hand on his face had been obscured by a five o’clock shadow. Eddie didn’t think much of it back then - he wasn’t quite sure why he was thinking about it now, either.

Four-year-old Christopher used to run his hand gleefully across the slight beard Eddie had grown in between tours, babbling incoherently at the rough texture. It seemed to soothe Chris in a way - the way holding his son close did to Eddie. He’d been too exhausted from constantly fighting with his wife to even think about putting a blade to his skin, but if Chris calmed from it, who was he to remove it?

It had never been more than a day or two worth of growth after the second tour - not until he moved to LA. After that, it was just easier to trim it so it was close-cropped. Firefighters didn’t _have_ to keep things completely shaved, though most of his crew preferred it. Bobby, Buck, Chimney - Eddie didn’t think he’d seen any of them with more than a day’s worth of growth in the three years he’d known them.

But for him, being new to town, fresh with his parents’ words branded on his skin, it was easier to keep it. New look, new him - so to speak. Not that he was under the impression that the stubble did anything to hide his expression, but the illusion of anonymity, or protection from his vulnerability was nice.

He’d gone through multiple hairstyles through his first year and a half in California. Enough that Christopher snorted and laughed every time he saw Eddie with something new, then turned around and demanded a new haircut of his own. 

First, it was the longer hair that turned into a wavy mess when he worked out. Then, it was the slightly-shorter, but always quiffed-back hair. Both of which made him look years younger than he actually was, but were hell to keep up with. Then after Shannon died, he’d just buzzed it all off. The new hairstyle made him look older and more serious, somewhere along how old Eddie actually felt. 

Though he suspected that it could be a product of the muscle he’d been packing on, throwing himself into working out to shut his brain down for at least an hour or two.

The stubble hadn’t really changed through that. He’d shaved completely maybe once, for the funeral, but for the most part, his trimmer was his best friend.

Then Christmas came and went and Eddie decided that the new year deserved yet another new look. So the stubble had to go.

He also started growing his hair back out. Somehow, it came back fluffier than it used to be, but he stopped putting copious amounts of gel and pomade in it. It was barely longer than a few inches, but coupled with his clean-shaven skin, he looked _at least_ ten years younger. Hell, Eddie didn’t even recognize himself anymore.

Pretty empowering, if you asked him.

Still, he wasn’t quite sure why he was just staring at the razor in his hand now. 

Coming off of a 24-hour shift usually meant that Eddie went through his normal routine of kissing Christopher goodbye for school, hopping into the shower and then standing in front of the mirror to brush and shave before he went to bed.

Today, though, the shift had been brutal. Back-to-back calls, a lot of them requiring all hands on deck, and despite Bobby keeping the rotation going so they could catch at least a couple hours of sleep, Eddie was dead on his feet. He’d still kissed Christopher goodbye, thanked Carla and hardly managed to keep himself upright in the shower or while brushing.

But damn, his face itched.

“Eddie?” Buck’s voice rang out from the entryway. “You here?”

“In here!” he called back, somehow stupidly relieved at the sound of his best friend’s voice. He wasn’t sure what exactly Buck was doing here, but he never complained about having him in the house. _Especially_ when he was as tired as now.

Buck appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, his grin slipping immediately at the sight of Eddie turning the razor in his hands over and over. 

Suddenly, he was struck at how this looked, and moved frantically to correct it. “I’m too tired to shave.”

Whatever hypotheticals had been flying through Buck’s mind resolved themselves at that explanation, evident from the faint relieved grin that played on his lips and the way his shoulders relaxed. He stepped into the bathroom, clearly unfazed by Eddie being clad in a towel and nothing else. “So let me do it?”

Eddie shook his head a few times, rubbed at his eyes, and blinked precariously at his best friend who was still looking on at him with amusement. Oh, so Buck _had_ asked. Still, he needed to confirm that he wasn’t hearing things. “What?”

Buck shrugged, leaning casually against the wall. “I can shave it off for you and you can go to sleep without feeling scratchy.”

It was tempting. If he hadn’t been as half-asleep as he was, he probably would’ve put up more of a fight than he actually did. Instead, he just nodded and handed the stupid thing to Buck, who was now sporting a Cheshire grin, practically bouncing in place. “It’s that exciting?”

“Stow it, Diaz, you know I love the little things,” he teased.

Eddie let out a tired laugh. “I do. Where do you want me?”

Buck scanned the bathroom before his eyes landed on Christopher’s shower chair. He brought it over, unfolding it and gesturing for Eddie to sit down. “You want me to grab you a shirt?”

“Nah, I don’t want to get shaving cream on it,” he replied, before thinking better of it and tacking on, “I can if it makes you uncomfortable, though.” 

Buck snorted, shaking his head and reaching to wash his hands. He turned to Eddie, looking critically at his jaw and cheeks.

“Your hair is dripping all over your face,” Buck decided bemusedly, pulling a towel off the stack of them and coming to stand behind him. “Here, tilt your head back.”

Eddie complied, resting his head back against Buck’s stomach. The first pass of the towel, only slightly obscuring the strength of Buck’s fingers massaging at his scalp, turned him instantly boneless. He kept rubbing the towel over his head, taking care not to jostle Eddie’s head too much.

Eddie was pretty sure he made a self-incriminating noise for the drag of Buck’s fingers because he started laughing, moving a hand down to rest on his nape. This time, he dug his fingers into a random knot at the base of his neck. Eddie groaned again at the feel of it releasing, pulling another throaty laugh from his best friend.

“You carry too much tension in your stance,” he said in a mock-deep voice. Eddie chuckled, dropping his head back down. The two of them immediately dissolved into more laughter at his hair standing in spikes, the joyful sound echoing in the small space. Buck grinned at him through the mirror, combing the damp strands back with a couple passes of his fingers. 

“Much better.” Coming around the chair, Buck grabbed the shaving cream off the counter, directing Eddie to close his eyes as he spread the foam on his face

Eddie had severely underestimated how intimate this was going to be. 

Suddenly, he felt a little too naked, sitting here in only a towel with his eyes closed, even if he trusted Buck with everything in him. He was painfully aware of it, goosebumps rising on his skin.

“I want to watch you,” he said quietly, holding his breath. A second skipped by, in which Eddie was completely convinced that he’d just scared his best friend off. Buck simply tapped a finger under his jaw in a silent signal. 

Eddie opened his eyes to find Buck staring at him softly. He’d never seen that look on his face before, and to be the recipient of it was a little groundbreaking. In fact, Eddie was pretty much 90% sure that _no one_ had ever looked at him like that.

It was too damn early to have all these realizations.

Blissfully, Buck didn’t make him talk about it. Instead, he started up a steady stream of random conversation that Eddie was only half-paying attention to. He was stuck watching his best friend run the razor meticulously along his face.

Evan Buckley, when the occasion called for it, had a single-minded focus that not many people expected from him. Eddie had seen it that first day, and every day since. And it wasn’t just a focus that was partial to him being a firefighter. 

Eddie saw it when Buck helped Chris with science homework, or when they were building unidentifiable figures with Legos. He saw it when Buck interacted with May about school, Harry and Denny about video games. He saw it when Chimney was ribbing him about his lack of pop culture references, or when Bobby was teaching him a new recipe. 

Somehow, Eddie just didn’t realize that even he was privy to that; that he, too, could be a recipient of Buck’s focus. _That_ in itself was a monumental realization.

“What are you thinking so hard about there?” Buck asked, scraping the razor down his cheek.

“You” slipped out of his mouth, setting his face aflame again. Eddie internally cursed his lack of filter when he was tired, but Buck only laughed, bright blue eyes flicking to his own.

“Care to share with the class?”

“You’re being very careful with this,” he observed, watching Buck’s brow furrow in concentration over a particularly difficult angle.

“Would you prefer I sliced your skin?” he teased, rinsing the razor before coming back. Two fingers landed on his jaw to stretch the skin slightly as the blade made another pass across his face.

“If I’d started to shave right now, I guarantee you it would not have been pretty.”

“You’re always pretty,” Buck said absently, turning away to dip the razor in water again. Eddie’s face warmed a little more at the unabashed compliment. He’d never been so grateful for the shaving foam still obscuring half his face, but he also couldn’t help the pleased feeling that settled in his bones.

“I wouldn’t be with toilet paper stuck to all the little nicks and cuts.” 

Buck furrowed his brow, looking weirdly at him. “Is that something people do?”

Eddie laughed, moving to wipe his face before thinking better of it. “It’s another movie thing, I think. They always show people doing it to stop the bleeding but I find that so gross.”

“Do you know how many bacteria…” and there Buck went off on a rant about sticking toilet paper where it didn’t belong, and how bacteria could infect open cuts, and how horrible people’s hygiene was. 

Eddie watched bemusedly as Buck sprouted more and more facts, getting heated at the _audacity_ of some people. The repetitive feel of the razor and Buck’s voice almost lulled him to sleep, even as he fought to keep his eyes open to listen to his friend's spiel.

“If you fall asleep on me, I’m not responsible for anything that happens,” Buck said, louder than before. Eddie nearly fell off the chair, startled by the volume of his voice but easily steadied by Buck’s hands on his skin.

Well, he was _wide_ awake now. 

Buck didn’t move, even after Eddie was balanced back on the chair. His hands were wrapped around Eddie’s arms, palms burning through air-cooled skin. Briefly, he registered that Buck had stopped dragging the blade across his skin a while ago from the dry feel of it, which meant that he’d probably fallen asleep.

Eddie looked up at Buck, watching his throat click as he stared down at him. There was a ferocity in the lines of his face - another unfamiliar look that Eddie hadn’t seen directed towards him before.

Part of Eddie wanted to flee from how vulnerable he felt, open and bare in more ways than just physically. The other part of him relished being this close to the man that made him feel safe in being emotionally exposed, in seeing Buck unguarded in the four walls of his bathroom.

“It’s okay to let someone take care of you, Eddie,” Buck said quietly. Of all the things that he expected Buck to say, that wasn’t one of them.

“You do,” he replied simply. 

It really was that simple - Eddie hadn’t lied. The past three years had _countless_ examples of Buck taking care of him. The smile that broke across Buck’s face was almost blinding, but also made Eddie realize how much his best friend relished simple praise. 

It was that thought that gave him the courage to lift a hand and pull Buck’s away from his shoulder, entangling their fingers. “Hey, I know I don’t say it as often as I should but I appreciate you, more than I can put in words.”

Buck shook his head, smiling and squeezing his fingers once before reaching for the razor again. “Just because you don’t use words, doesn’t mean you don’t show me your appreciation.”

Eddie couldn’t fathom what else he’d done to show it, but he let it go, leaning back in the chair as Buck tilted his head up. This time, he kept his eyes roaming Buck’s face as best as he could, trying to figure something out here.

The quiet that settled between them felt loaded. The only sounds that could be heard were the swish of the water as Buck rinsed the blade, a faint scratch as the blade dragged along his jaw.

“I mean, you trust me to put a blade to your throat,” Buck brought up after a little while. Eddie assumed it was in regards to how he showed appreciation. 

“That’s a bit dramatic, Buck. It’s a generic razor, not a medieval dagger.”

“Are you trying to tell me you _can’t_ fashion a weapon out of this?” Buck raised an eyebrow skeptically, tilting his jaw to get to that one pesky spot right underneath it. 

“Your faith in my abilities is startling,” Eddie laughed, earning himself a rebuke from Buck when his skin stretched in the opposite direction. He fell silent as the razor slipped across his Adam’s apple with all the care in the world, Eddie a little miffed that he couldn’t watch Buck do this staring up at the ceiling.

He was never going to be able to do the simple act of shaving without thinking about Buck, ever again.

“Okay,” Buck said after two more passes with the razor. “I think that’s done.”

Eddie finally took his eyes off Buck for the first time since he’d set the blade to his skin, and stared past him at the mirror. Somehow, looking at Buck through the mirror was more intimate than looking at him directly.

Unsurprisingly, Buck had done a great job. He told his best friend as much, watching as red dusted across his cheeks. It was endearing, and Eddie wanted to reach out and brush his fingers across the blush, or say something else that would deepen it.

Instead, he stood up and bent over the sink, splashing cold water on his skin and taking the offered towel to pat his face and neck dry.

“Can I…” Buck trailed off, holding up his aftershave. He looked to be bracing himself for rejection, which wouldn’t do at all.

Eddie stayed silent, stepping into his best friend’s space and tilting his chin up so he could look the other man in the eye. Buck took the gesture as the permission it was, unscrewing the cap to get some balm.

He closed his eyes as Buck’s fingers swept across his freshly cleaned skin, applying the product as carefully as he’d wielded the razor. The strokes of his calloused fingertips against his sensitive skin sent shivers down his spine, bracketing each bone with a security that really only came from being with Buck.

“Eddie,” Buck whispered, a thumb stroking idly along the underside of his jaw.

He opened his eyes to find Buck staring at him just as softly as before. 

The tension stretched taut between them, three years of building whatever this was between them all coming to a head faster than Eddie would have imagined. But in the quiet of his house, alone with no one but Buck to witness him like this, he let himself lean into it.

“Buck,” he smiled, reaching up to cup his face. “Thank you.”

That startled a laugh out of the other man, an impish grin Eddie had to taste. So he leaned up to press his lips to Buck in a closed-mouth kiss, feeling something settle inside him as Buck wrapped an arm around his bare shoulders to pull him closer.

Buck pulled back first, before it could get too heated. “Nope, I refuse to be blamed if you get razor burn or ingrown hairs from us making out.”

“You can be blamed for taking so damn long,” Eddie grinned, throwing his head back in laughter at his best friend’s affronted look.

“ _Right_ , it’s on me, my bad,” Buck shook his head. “Go get ready for bed before you can’t sleep anymore.”

Eddie complied, leaving one last kiss at the corner of Buck’s mouth. As he ruffled through his drawers, he called back to him. “Join me?”

“I’m not the one who just came off shift, but sure,” he replied, bounding out of the bathroom happily. Eddie chuckled at his eagerness but threw whatever random clothes he found on, then walked over to tug Buck towards the bed. The mere sight of it had his eyelids feeling heavy.

They settled into the sheets, facing each other. Buck was smiling at him, and Eddie was still a little stuck on how they’d ended up here, but he wasn’t about to look this gift horse in the mouth.

“Not that you’re not allowed here whenever you want, but what did you come here for? Sorry, I forgot to ask, you usually don’t come over after one of my 24-hours.”

Buck laughed. “Nothing at all, I was bored.”

“Well, I fixed that for you,” he replied impishly. Buck had been more than careful with his face even with his excitement, definitely more than Eddie could manage after a long shift. 

“You smell good,” Buck murmured, eyes twinkling with mirth as he swiped a thumb along his cheek. Eddie smiled, turning his face slightly into the pillow at the light touch.

“Just the aftershave.” A yawn pressed at the back of Eddie’s mouth, but he managed to keep it at bay by pressing his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He wasn’t about to let a _yawn_ of all things break this bubble between them. “Why don’t they let firefighters keep facial hair anyway?” he asked drowsily. He knew the answer, but he just wanted to hear Buck’s voice, to let it help him drift off.

“The masks,” he replied, reaching forward hesitantly to set a hand on Eddie’s hip. Eddie, exhausted as he was, didn’t even question it; he scooted closer and curled into Buck’s chest, listening to the rumble of his voice as he talked. “Facial hair stops the masks from sealing properly around our mouth and nose. It’s the same with N95 masks or respirators; even a little facial hair can disrupt the seal.” 

“Feels better without hair now,” he said, pressing a tired smile into Buck’s shirt.

“Well it _looks_ good, if I do say so myself.”

Eddie felt a rush of fondness overcome him, wrapping around his heart and lungs as he pulled back a little to look at his partner’s beaming face.

What he actually wanted to say was that he loved him, but Eddie didn’t think either of them were in a place to hear it. Definitely not with Eddie like this, exhausted and sleep-drunk. But he wanted to say _something._

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, words not coming to him in his bleary state. But this was Buck, so he heard him anyway. Tangling their fingers together, Buck raised them and kissed Eddie’s knuckles. “I know, and it’s the same for you.”

Somehow, that was enough. 

Eddie tilted his face up to press a sloppy kiss to Buck’s skin, tucking his face into his partner’s neck and just breathing in. 

Buck pressed a kiss to his forehead in return, wrapping his arms a little tighter around him. “Go to sleep,” he said in a low voice.

So he did.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know which one of you needs to hear this, but don't put toilet paper on your cuts. Get paper towel from the kitchen or something.
> 
> Also, use aftershave balms, not sprays/lotions/splashes xD Save yourself the burn - trust me, I did my research for this fic.
> 
> Kudos and Comments make my day, so thank you to everyone who leaves them! I love hearing what you guys think, and anyone who takes time out of their day to comment has my heart and soul <3
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr at [zeethebooknerd](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/zeethebooknerd) or on Twitter at [tkreyesevandiaz](https://twitter.com/tkreyesevandiaz).


End file.
